A man about to get out of prison will spend another 25 years behind bars for the rapes of two girls more than 30 years ago.

Police said the cold case investigation might never have been solved if it weren't for the suspect himself.

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"I take great comfort in knowing that we were able to run this case out and provide closure for both victims in this case," Baltimore City police Detective Justin Stinnett said.

John Hill, 56, was sentenced this week to 25 years in prison for the rape of two teenage girls in 1982. Victim Lea Wetzbarger thought the case would never be solved.

"We just felt like we didn't matter, like we were nobody," Wetzbarger said.

Wetzbarger was 16 when the then-19-year-old Hill got away with the crime. Wetzbarger and her friend were walking along Wilkens Avenue, not far from St. Agnes Hospital, when Hill approached them at gunpoint, raped them and shot Wetzbarger as she tried to get away.

"I turned around (and was shot in the arm) at point-blank range," she said.

Physical evidence was lost in the case and Hill was never prosecuted. Decades passed with no justice for the victims. Coincidentally, it was a request by Hill himself that helped close the case.

Gavin Patashnick, chief of the Juvenile Division of the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office, said Hill was serving time in Harford County on a 1997 charge for kidnapping and assault. His release date was coming up and he filed an intrastate detainer to try to clear up his arrest for the two rapes. The moved backfired on him.

"We took a look at his intrastate detainer," Patashnick said. "We were able to find the victims in this case and find all the information we could and went from there. Had he not filed the intrastate detainer, I do not believe we would have discovered this open warrant."

For Wetzbarger, who believes that there are other victims, the sentencing is a huge victory and a relief.

"It's an incredible amount of closure," she said. "You feel very vindicated. It's like your life is going to start over. Even though I'm 50, it's great."